In the 1960s a Brahms
cycle by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra
under Sawallisch enjoyed a fair reputation
as an energetic, good-at-the-price offering
on a mid-price Philips label. The present
cycle made no particular impression
so far as I recall. The very fact that
EMI have licensed it to Brilliant suggests
they’ve given up on it as a source of
income. I approached this set with no
great expectations, therefore.
I started with the
Tragic Overture and had a real surprise.
It is brisk, almost as brisk as Klemperer
whose version, at 12:32, is the fastest
I know. It is also superbly taut and
very detailed in its phrasing. I must
say I love the recording by Karel Ančerl
which takes around 14 minutes
but brings it off with mesmerizing concentration,
but among swifter performances Sawallisch
is now my favourite.
What a surprise, then,
to find the Haydn Variations so slow
and laboured. There is no distinction
to the phrasing at all and the slightly
ragged start to several variations suggests
that, if the conductor was really present
at the sessions – as presumably he was
– the orchestra had corporately decided,
for some reason, to behave as if he
wasn’t.
The First Symphony
at least sounds as if someone is conducting
it, but not very well. After the opening
forte Sawallisch inserts a comma, small
but enough to disrupt the flow. He does
this several times during the introduction.
I realise that Furtwängler would
have inserted far bigger commas and
got away with it, but that’s because
he was creating a romantic context.
Sawallisch’s general outlook is classical.
At its best the Allegro has a certain
stately grandeur, but secondary material
gets slower and slower and things hang
fire badly at times. Similar comments
apply to the finale. The middle movements
are decently done if you think that’s
good enough for such great music.
The Second Symphony
is much better. There is a conviction
to the playing that I missed in no.1.
There are some slackenings of pulse
in the first movement which do not wholly
ring true but overall the performance
has considerable grandeur. What I slightly
miss is the feeling you get with Boult
that the symphony is unfolded in one
unerring sweep.
The curious thing is
that some years ago I attended an open
rehearsal at La Scala where Sawallisch
conducted this symphony with the Orchestra
Filarmonica. It was only a token rehearsal.
In the first movement the conductor
was watchful and made a few comments
at the end. Thereafter he got up steam
and the finale reminded me of Boult
precisely for its sense of overall sweep.
It was one of the finest performances
of that movement I’ve ever heard. It
would seem that Sawallisch, though unfailingly
efficient, worked best with an audience
behind him and an orchestra in front
of him with whom he had a special relationship
– the orchestra of La Scala loved him.
The Third Symphony
is better still. There is a great deal
of power in the opening paragraph. There
is still a tendency to pick daisies
in the secondary material, but the phrasing
of the yodelling wind themes is delightful
and it works much better when genuine
strength has been created before the
relaxation begins, as it hadn’t been
in the First Symphony. Sawallisch makes
the repeat in this movement, which he
didn’t in the first movements of nos.1
and 2. The second movement is gravely
paced, but here the conductor can really
be heard creating the phrasing.
The conductor/orchestra relationship
is certainly working here as they explore
the music together. The third movement
is taken very slowly and meditatively.
Personally I prefer something more graciously
flowing but since Sawallisch once more
draws a very detailed response from
the orchestra I shall return to this
fairly often. From its own point of
view it’s perfect. The finale has a
lot of rugged strength, rather like
the old Horenstein version I recently
heard, but infinitely better played
and recorded. The one blot is that the
strings’ reference to the opening theme
of the symphony, at the very end, is
inaudible, thus depriving us of a sense
of homecoming.
My real reservation
about this generally very fine reading
is that Klemperer is better still. Of
all the four Brahms symphonies, this
is the one which Klemperer unfolds in
one single, inevitably evolving paragraph.
Symphony no.4 is unreservedly
magnificent. The length of the opening
note seems to promise an interventionist
approach which doesn’t materialize.
Instead we get a sternly tragic, but
highly charged account. It doesn’t have
the glow of the best Boult performances
– unfortunately his late EMI recording
isn’t quite in that category – but then
it doesn’t try to be warm and glowing.
Having chosen a tone of epic grandeur,
Sawallisch remains utterly true to this
vision from beginning to end.
The Schicksalslied
is eloquently performed and follows
on from the mood of the symphony very
well. The Academic Festival Overture
would seem less well placed, but Sawallisch’s
brisk, energetic but completely humourless
reading seems to want to find an element
of tragedy even here. It’s an interesting
view but Boult’s jolly romp is surely
closer to what was intended.
I promise you I’d made
up my mind about these performances
before looking up any other reviews,
but I see that on their original release
only no.4 was received with enthusiasm
by Gramophone. Like me, Jonathan
Swain was much impressed by its tragic
strength. Edward Seckerson and Alan
Sanders were no more than respectful
about nos. 2 and 3, while the latter
critic was utterly dismissive of no.1.
In the days of LP,
when boxed sets were a rarity, it was
a truism that no one conductor would
be likely to embrace the differing moods
of all four symphonies equally well,
and collectors were advised to shop
around. Nowadays complete cycles seem
the name of the game, and you might
have to buy four of them to get a really
fine performance of each symphony. I’ve
reviewed several cycles for MusicWeb.
The most recent was Janowski on RSB
405, recorded in Liverpool in 1984-6.
He is excellent in nos.1 and 3, good
in no.2, dud in no.4. Sir Colin Davis
(BMG 82876 60388 2) set down strong
performances of all four with the Bavarian
Radio Symphony Orchestra between 1989
and 1993, though his liking for slow
finales means that the overall effect
is somewhat sober. The real trouble
is that you have to buy an unremarkable
performance of the violin concerto and
boring ones of the two piano concertos
at the same time.
I’m not sure about
the current availability of Boult. When
I reviewed his EMI cycle it was on three
separately available CDs in an HMV Classics
series sold only in HMV shops. His interpretations
of all four symphonies were justly famous
and were practically synonymous with
Brahms for several generations of British
listeners. Unfortunately, in this late
cycle only no.2 achieves the vitality
and sweep he was capable of in his younger
days. The justness of the readings always
impresses but I think he is slightly
surpassed by Sawallisch in nos.3 and
4. He is perhaps weakest in no.1, where
he seems to be having difficulty in
fully engaging the orchestra, though
compared with Sawallisch’s dire effort
he is at least acceptable. If HMV 5
74053 2 can be found it is a great record
and a worthwhile supplement to any cycle,
containing as it does the Second Symphony
plus Dame Janet Baker’s famous recording
of the Alto Rhapsody and the two songs
for contralto, viola and piano.
Klemperer (EMI GROC
7243 5 62742 2 8), too, is at his weakest
in no.1, which hangs fire badly at times,
especially in the first movement. As
I said above, the truly great performance
of the cycle is no.3. No.2 is strong
and freer than you might expect. No.4
is very powerful indeed, but there are
a number of eccentric touches you have
to get used to. I am talking here about
mainstream performances in stereo. The
highly individual views, often in historical
sound, by the likes of Toscanini, Furtwängler,
Stokowski, Celibidache and so on are
special cases and their admirers won’t
need encouragement from me.
So it looks as though
you might get Davis or Janowski for
no.1, Boult for no.2, Klemperer for
no.3 and Sawallisch for no.4. If you
must get only one cycle, don’t get Sawallisch
or Janowski since each set contains
one total dud. On the other hand, if
you are limiting yourself to two cycles,
then getting both Sawallisch and Janowski
seems a possible and inexpensive solution,
since you will get at least one good
performance of each symphony.
I wonder if Brilliant
might not have done better to seek permission
to release Sawallisch’s earlier VSO
cycle? I never heard this but the German
Requiem made at the same time was good
and there was an Alto Rhapsody with
Aafje Heynis. A box which also included
these could be attractive.
Christopher Howell
for
details
Academic Festival Overture op.80 (1880)
[09:53] 
